Woodburn set for first outing of 2015

Aspiring co-driver Tom Woodburn takes to the rally stages for the first time in 2015 as he embarks on an assault on the BTRDA Kick Start 1400 Rally Championship.

Sitting alongside Tom Walster in a Suzuki Swift, the 20-year-old Morecambe Car Club member is hopeful of building on a successful 2014 season where he enjoyed a number of firsts including his first overall win and his first event in an ex-World Rally Championship car.

The campaign in the Kickstart Championship will be the first full championship Woodburn has contested since 2013, when he emerged as champion co-driver in the UK Fiesta Sport Challenge Trophy and he is looking forward to the challenges ahead.

Speaking ahead of the first round of the season, the Weir Engineering Wydean Forest Rally, he said: “I can’t wait to get back out on the stages and I’m really looking forward to sitting alongside Tom in a car that should give us a great chance in fighting for overall wins.

“He is a very good driver who is very switched on and committed to everything he does, so I hope that his speed and my experience from winning rallies last year and riding in WRC machinery, can play a part in us having a good year.

“It is a very competitive championship, so we are going to have to work hard to take the honours, but we’re heading to the Wyedean in good spirits and confident we can be at the right end of the order at the finish.”

The Wyedean Forest Stages is once again based in the town of Chepstow with the competitive action of 44 miles, takes place on stages within the Forest of Dean and the lower Wye Valley.